Just completed our Conversion Van New to this Forum

[Steve Biegler]

Just saying hello. My wife Lori & I just picked up our 2024 Ford Transit High Roof Extended HD Dually "Ghost" from Interstate Custom Vans in Massachusetts mid November. We are both retired and have been planning this build for years. We finally have realized our dream van. The theme was stealth exterior with the interior done to echo the 1962 Riva Aquarama, one of the most beautiful wooden boats ever made. We plan to tour the continent with our German Shepherd Moose.

Here are some shots from the Interstate Custom Vans website

Ford Transit Land Yacht — Interstate Vans | Custom Van Builder

Happy Holidays Everyone!

 

[Steve Biegler]

 

[youngnretired]

Welcome to the forum.

Thats a beautiful interior for your camper. I've always loved beautiful woodwork in homes etc, and yours is beautiful. Is there an AC system? Obviously, there's not a rooftop unit as that doesn't fit your stealth criteria. Just curious.

 

[Steve Biegler]

Welcome to the forum.

Thats a beautiful interior for your camper. I've always loved beautiful woodwork in homes etc, and yours is beautiful. Is there an AC system? Obviously, there's not a rooftop unit as that doesn't fit your stealth criteria. Just curious.

Thank you for the compliment. Yes we are using a 48 volt Cruise N Comfort HD AC. Dual Lithionics 51 Volt Batteries power it. Heat is Van Life Tech Roman Holiday Hydronic system with their Caldera floor. 50 Gallon fresh water tank.

 

[GeorgeRad]

Nice conversion, who is the manufacturer the water heater and which fuel is used: gasoline, diesel or LPG?

 

[Steve Biegler]

Nice conversion, who is the manufacturer the water heater and which fuel is used: gasoline, diesel or LPG?

Thank you.
Van Life Tech Roman Holiday System provides the heat through Hydronic Floor and forced air. It also provides instant hot water. This includes their Caldera floor System. The furnace is mounted under the van and is fueled by gas from the auxiliary fuel tap off the oversized gas tank. We have no LPG in the build.
Roman Holiday - Van Life Tech: Luxury Through Technology

 

[GeorgeRad]

What brand is the furnace?

 

[Steve Biegler]

What brand is the furnace?

Van Life Tech. I don't know if the actual furnace is sourced from another company or they build their own. Roman Holiday - Van Life Tech: Luxury Through Technology

 

[GeorgeRad]

There only few manufacturers making these furnaces - Eberspacher/Espar (Germany), Webasto (Germany), Planar (Russian) and multiple primarily Eberspacher copies from China. Best parts availability are from; 1. Eberspacher; 2. Webasto, 3. Planar is questionable for political reasons, and 4. China - just get another unit. Van Life Tech is rather quiet about it, but I am sure they know. I am little surprise that your builder didn’t select Rixen from Sandy Oregon, probably the most mature product based on Eberspacher.

Whatever you have, these furnaces need to be maintained regularly once a year, they like hot runs, and occasional using kerosene in lieu of gasoline cleans them well.

Are your liquid to air heat exchanger blowers have temperature based continuously variable speed or are just on-off control? The is usually the loudest element in these hydronic systems.

 

[Steve Biegler]

System is.very quiet. The floor hydronic are virtually silent. The only sound is the blower on the hot air which I have a switch to shut off if I want to it is a super system that works really well. Interstate Vans is a certified installer of their system and believes it is a better system than the Rixon.

 

[Johnnyfry]

Just saying hello. My wife Lori & I just picked up our 2024 Ford Transit High Roof Extended HD Dually "Ghost" from Interstate Custom Vans in Massachusetts mid November. We are both retired and have been planning this build for years. We finally have realized our dream van. The theme was stealth exterior with the interior done to echo the 1962 Riva Aquarama, one of the most beautiful wooden boats ever made. We plan to tour the continent with our German Shepherd Moose.

View attachment 2397937

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Here are some shots from the Interstate Custom Vans website

Ford Transit Land Yacht — Interstate Vans | Custom Van Builder

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Absolutely Stunning! Beautiful.

 

[Steve Biegler]

Absolutely Stunning! Beautiful.

Thank you!

 

[GeorgeRad]

System is.very quiet. The floor hydronic are virtually silent. The only sound is the blower on the hot air which I have a switch to shut off if I want to it is a super system that works really well. Interstate Vans is a certified installer of their system and believes it is a better system than the Rixon.

I don’t know much about this new product from Van Life Tech but know Rixen reasonably well. I hope you can share what are the advantages of this Van Life Tech system over Rixen. For example, Rixen’s blower offers almost continuously (5% increments) blower which I find to be a major advantage over a typical bang-bang control unit.

In any water heating system where, hot coolant is used to heat water in a liquid-to-liquid heat exchangers like marine water heaters or flat plates like you have there is a possibility of coolant leak to fresh water. Commonly used ethylene glycol is highly toxic, if your system is filled with ethylene glycol, I would suggest to purge it and refill with propylene glycol which is not toxic, a common practice by many folks.

 

[Steve Biegler]

I don’t know much about this new product from Van Life Tech but know Rixen reasonably well. I hope you can share what are the advantages of this Van Life Tech system over Rixen. For example, Rixen’s blower offers almost continuously (5% increments) blower which I find to be a major advantage over a typical bang-bang control unit.

In any water heating system where, hot coolant is used to heat water in a liquid-to-liquid heat exchangers like marine water heaters or flat plates like you have there is a possibility of coolant leak to fresh water. Commonly used ethylene glycol is highly toxic, if your system is filled with ethylene glycol, I would suggest to purge it and refill with propylene glycol which is not toxic, a common practice by many folks.

Not really a "New Product", Jarrod Tocci had one installed 6 years ago. When I was researching it I believe the biggest difference was that the Van Life Tech design uses the radiant floor as the primary system with the forced air only kicking in to supplement when needed. At the time it was my understanding, (I don't know if this has changed) the Rixen's did not.

Hopefully these will answer some of your questions.

In this video you can see the furnace is an Eberspacher

 

[GeorgeRad]

Rixen’s hydronic heating has been on the market since middle 80ties. Majority of installation were with liquid to air heating with occasional floor heating installation. Good luck with your van.

 

[Boxster1971]

Not really a "New Product", Jarrod Tocci had one installed 6 years ago. When I was researching it I believe the biggest difference was that the Van Life Tech design uses the radiant floor as the primary system with the forced air only kicking in to supplement when needed. At the time it was my understanding, (I don't know if this has changed) the Rixen's did not.

Hopefully these will answer some of your questions.

In this video you can see the furnace is an Eberspacher

Thanks for sharing details on your Ghost van - looks like a impressive build.

It should be a Eberspacher furnace since their web site claim is: "The System utilizes time tested, industry proven commercial vehicle coolant heaters (boiler) which in turn use the vehicle’s primary fuel source (diesel or gasoline)."

This Van Life Tech has been around for at least six year and viewed as a premium system. What Is new is they are now offering DIY kits. Earlier they were super protective of their proprietary design and only allow selected installers to work on them.

On demand hot water systems waste a lot of water unless they have a water recirculating feature.

Enjoy your travels!

 

[phantomjock]

Former "yachtie" here, your build is exceptional! May it give you many years of fine service.

Cheers - Jim

 

[Steve Biegler]

Former "yachtie" here, your build is exceptional! May it give you many years of fine service.

Cheers - Jim

Thank you!

 

[avanti]

Very impressive all around!

Where did you find space for a 50 gal fresh tank?

 

[Steve Biegler]

Thanks for sharing details on your Ghost van - looks like a impressive build.

It should be a Eberspacher furnace since their web site claim is: "The System utilizes time tested, industry proven commercial vehicle coolant heaters (boiler) which in turn use the vehicle’s primary fuel source (diesel or gasoline)."

This Van Life Tech has been around for at least six year and viewed as a premium system. What Is new is they are now offering DIY kits. Earlier they were super protective of their proprietary design and only allow selected installers to work on them.

On demand hot water systems waste a lot of water unless they have a water recirculating feature.

Enjoy your travels!

Thank you!

Rixen’s hydronic heating has been on the market since middle 80ties. Majority of installation were with liquid to air heating with occasional floor heating installation. Good luck with your van.

Thank you!

Very impressive all around!

Where did you find space for a 50 gal fresh tank?

Thank You! This should explain it for you.